Closures, costs and Consol 11 June 2007

Perhaps the local bottle monopolist is as much of a problem as cork taint, in its own way, suggests Tim James in his latest Noseweek article

If you ask about the problematical things in a winemaker’s worklife, the resulting list would probably include corks, weather, winewriters, and Consol Glass. Fair enough: all are frequently defective, untrustworthy or unreliable – the odd one out is winewriters, because only them must producers pretend to like; about the others they can be unreservedly rude – and frequently are.

Corks and Consol Glass (monopolist of local bottle production) are both involved in packaging wine, of course. Problems with cork most of us know about by now: there is a small (probably 1-3%) but unacceptable proportion of wines that get tainted to some degree by faulty corks, with random oxidation a less-publicised issue.

It’s not unreasonable, surely, to expect a world sufficiently industrialised to start destroying itself through the noxious exhalations of its industriousness to come up with some way of closing a bottle other than by stuffing a bit of bark down its neck, even if that had been a medieval breakthrough. Whether or not we do have a viable alternative continues to be bickered over. Partly the argument results from the financial and other interests involved, partly it’s lazy prejudice. It is also simply fed by ignorance: firstly, we do not sufficiently understand such things as how screwcaps (the most touted alternative to cork) are going to look after wine over many years; nor can we be confident that the cork industry is more trustworthy after its undoubted pulling of itself together following the salutary shocks to its image and bottom line in recent years. There’s not even scientific agreement on exactly what happens to wine during its much-vaunted maturation process.

Screwcaps are making advances in the timid local market, something which even unreconstructed cork-lovers must welcome, because if nothing else it takes pressure off cork trees (overworking them has been part of the problem), and puts it on the formerly complacent cork industry. There are some mumblings internationally about problems with screwcap technology, but I myself have got over any doubts I had about the screwcap’s desirability for, at least, wines to be drunk within a few years of harvest; I’m confessedly fence-sitting about the rest.

Aesthetically, to my mind the nicest closure of all is the Vino-Lok – a flanged glass stopper which fits snugly into the bottle (cushioned by a PVC ring seal), intitially held down by an aluminium cap. Like the screwcap it’s easy to remove, and to replace on an unemptied bottle. It is now quite common in Germany, where it was developed, but only a few producers use it here: the biggest commitment so far is from Groote Post, the good Darling winery, which now uses it for their top wines.

The problem is that the glass stopper and the bottle are imported, so you are paying nearly R10 just for these.  That’s a little more, incidentally, than a good quality cork and heavyweight local bottle (but much less than the most expensive of that pairing), over twice as much as a screwcap-plus-bottle, and five times as much as the cheapest bottle and plastic cork combo.

Actually, with all of these you can start directing baleful glances at Consol Glass – either because of what they don’t make available locally, requiring expensive imports, or because of their high prices – about a third more than what is paid in Europe. It all hits the consumer of course, but you can add to Consol’s inedequacies the fact that, as any winemaker will tell you, ‘quality is mediocre and service is poor’ (and that’s a genuine quote from an only averagely irritated producer).

Most importantly, there’s decent stuff coming out sealed in all manner of ways. Let’s keep open-minded about them all (even about the plastic cork, if you insist). At the fairly modest screwcapped end, Du Toitskloof’s Sauvignon Blanc 2007 (panting on the shelves in April, first release of the harvest) is decent at R25. Under Groote Post’s glass stopper, I particularly like the Sauvignon 2006 (R63) and the Pinot Noir (R105). Hoping they’re not corked: a treat for the rich  in five years’ time would be the fine, elegant bordeaux blend Morgenster 2003 (R265). At half that price, and very good in quite a classic style, is Vins D’Orrance Cuvée Ameena Syrah 2005 (R130)

For those who find it too fatiguing to pour, capitalism will always meet or manufacture any desire as long as fools and profits abound. Coming to the UK market are ready-filled wine-glasses (plastic, of course), with chardonnay, shiraz or a rosé inside, and a peel-off foil lid.

• This article first appeared in Noseweek, 'South Africa's unique investigative magazine'